Two jumps out, three jumps back

The sediment of the Gerasian gueuze beer settled at the bottom of the glass: illuminated motes of light like the cluster of stars fronting a nebula.

The Alliance terraforming initiative has certainly paid dividends.

A modest 9 trips over two days netted a tidy profit and I don't feel any need for a grumble. Even though the trade trip was essentially one way, what with terraforming planets being very demanding, there were a number of side missions accumulated. The box can deliver on those as well, and it even became worthwhile making a detour with enough contracts to fulfil.

Bubbles in the beer continued to pop with glowing vigour, filling the air with a deep and heady aroma of fermented grain.  The dimmed lights of the booth leave my face awash with the bio-luminescence from the beer, gradually fading away as the level in the glass falls.

It hadn't taken long for the nearest source of land enrichment systems to dry up so jumps had to be made further afield. Much further afield. The range of a Lakon-7 is severely curtailed when loaded to capacity, so the two jumps for the empty journey out became three jumps to bring the cargo back. That could catch a trader out in a sparse volume of space.

There are more planets that need terraforming. I'll keep an eye out for those. Alliance space is becoming more attractive a place to trade for the improvements being made.

I pulled on the last mouthful, savouring the warmth and flavour of the brew. The waitress was being attentive tonight and smiled at me just as the glass touched the table, my booth having now fallen deeper into shadow.

The box had done well. I ordered another glass.

I could afford to.